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Southern Company says has 'A+' support from Trump on Vogtle

Says has gotten A+ support from Trump on Vogtle. Says has invested $5.4B in Vogtle expansion.

03

May

24

May

SOSouthern Company

$49.67

0.16 (0.32%)

03/28/17

SBSH

03/28/17NO CHANGETarget $44SBSHSell

Citi sees Westinghouse bankruptcy as adding uncertainty to Southern Company

Citi analyst Praful Mehta notes that according to Reuters, Westinghouse could file for bankruptcy as soon as today. If Westinghouse continues to work on Vogtle post filing the downside risk is limited, Mehta tells investors in a research note. He believes, however, that such a scenario is unlikely. Westinghouse is likely to walk away from Vogtle, which means Southern Company will need to either complete the project itself or find another contractor, the analyst adds. He believes that any new plan, which would need to be approved by regulators, will likely result in cost and time overruns. The analyst sees added uncertainty for Southern Company and keeps a Sell rating on the shares with a $44 price target.

03/03/17

03/03/17DOWNGRADE

On The Fly: Top five analyst downgrades

Catch up on today's top five analyst downgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Kite Pharma (KITE) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel with analyst Thomas Shrader citing valuation. 2. Nutanix (NTNX) downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley with analyst Katy Huberty saying she expects weaker results to continue given a more crowded market, slower OEM growth, fewer deals, and rising DRAM costs, among other reasons. 3. Snap (SNAP) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities with analyst James Cordwell citing premium valuation and maintained its $14 price target. Cordwell believes the current multiple is unsustainable given unproven monetization potential, challenges re-accelerating user growth, and structurally lower profitability. 4. Kroger (KR) downgraded to Buy from Conviction Buy at Goldman with analyst Stephen Tanal saying the fourth quarter update demonstrated Kroger's competitive edge as eroded a bit and suggest the company is losing share to key competitor Wal-Mart (WMT), which accelerated its grocery business in Q4. 5. Southern Company (SO) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus with analyst Katelyn Bayone citing significant delays and cost overruns at its Kemper County plant. The analyst said Southern has now pushed back the commercial operation of the Kemper "clean-coal" plant to mid-March. The plant was originally scheduled to open in 2013, though the opening has been repeatedly pushed back. Bayone said the plant's economic viability has become less certain due to lower-than-expected natural gas prices. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

03/03/17

03/03/17UPGRADE

On The Fly: Top five analyst upgrades

Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Expedia (EXPE) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citi with analyst Mark May citing greater comfort in the growth of the company's hotel business. The analyst, who noted that recently disclosed room night and bookings growth at HomeAway gives him a more bullish view on its long-term growth, raised his price target on Expedia shares to $130 from $116. 2. Helmerich & Payne (HP) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein with analyst Colin Davies citing higher U.S. rig demand and valuation. Target to $84 from $86. 3. Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies with analyst Kevin Grundy saying that its recently-acquired Bai brand is an underappreciated growth platform for the company. He expects Bai to contribute 2-3 points to Dr Pepper's core sales growth over the next 3-5 years and increased his 2017-18 organic sales and EPS forecasts. Grundy increased his price target on Dr Pepper shares to $115 from $98. 4. KeyCorp (KEY) upgraded to Outperform from Hold at Evercore ISI. 5. Southern Company (SO) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies with analyst Anthony Crowdell saying he thinks the company will be able to deliver on its 5% earnings per share growth target given all the levers available to pull. He also believes investors are pricing in a Kemper scenario that is worse than worst-case and sees the Vogtle nuclear project is less of a concern than is factored in at current levels, Crowdell tells investors. He raised his price target on Southern Company shares to $56 from $50. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

03/03/17

ARGS

03/03/17DOWNGRADEARGSHold

Southern Company downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus

Argus analyst Katelyn Bayone downgraded Southern Company to Hold given significant delays and cost overruns at its Kemper County plant. The analyst said Southern has now pushed back the commercial operation of the Kemper "clean-coal" plant to mid-March. The plant was originally scheduled to open in 2013, though the opening has been repeatedly pushed back. Bayone said the plant's economic viability has become less certain due to lower-than-expected natural gas prices.

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